The story of Suzanne Belperron is the story of a brilliant jeweler who was ahead of his time. The courage of the designer surprised clients. The use of crystal and pearls combined with diamonds, and platinum and palladium with gold suggests that she was a genius and ahead of her time.
An innovator and an excellent designer – all this is Suzanne Belperron
A distinctive feature of her products has always been rock crystal in a surprisingly beautiful frame: for example, a stone in a stone or a combination of stones, like sea pebbles sparkling in the sun. Belperron was the first to design a stone in jewelry in this way.
“My style is my signature,” she said, and almost never repeated her jewelry and never signed her work, believing that her style was already so well recognizable.
In the second half of the 20th century, the name Belperron was almost forgotten. Her resurgence in fame began in 1987, after several of her pieces, owned by the Duchess of Windsor, were auctioned off at Sotheby’s. From the very beginning of her career, each work of Suzanne caused the constant delight of numerous fans. She earned a high reputation by designing jewelry that combined precious stones with simpler ones: chalcedony, rock crystal, smoky quartz. How innovative it is even today!
One of the most famous works of Belperron of that period is considered to be a brooch in the form of a starfish, made from a single piece of rock crystal, which became the setting for a diamond of the same shape, but smaller. Paired brooches with amethysts and paired brooches with pineapples.
Undoubtedly, her work in the Parisian House of BOISVIN
Her collaboration with the expressionist artist Jean Paul and her acquaintance with an influential businessman, the famous pearl and precious stone merchant Bernard Hertz, influenced her formation.
From him, she got the opportunity to develop her own design of jewelry and produce them under the HERZ brand. The joint business was interrupted only when France was occupied by the Nazis, and Hertz himself ended up in Auschwitz, but in 1945 Belperron tracked down his son and resumed cooperation with the Hertz family, creating a new jewelry house HERZ-BELPERRON.
Jean Hertz was in charge of the company’s business, and Belperron was in charge of design. They remained partners for thirty years. Very often, Belperron was poached by many New York firms, but she remained loyal to France.
